TMTPOST -- U.S. President Donad Trump is pressingTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd (TSMC) to buy stakes in Intel Corporation amid trade negotiations, in which Taiwan authorities are seeking lower tariffs. 

Credit：TSMC

The Trump administration demanded that Taiwan either to ask TSMC to acquire a 49% stake in Intel or to invest an additional $400 billion in the United States if it wanted to enjoy the same baseline 15% tariffs as Japan and South Korea, Taiwanese news media outlet Mirror Media reported on Tuesday.

The report suggested TSMC became a key role during trade talks between U.S. and Taiwan. Imports from Taiwan would face 20% reciprocal tariffs starting August 7, according to the list of duties released by the White House last week. It was reported that the two options that Trump proposed have caught TSMC in a dilemma. 

Taiwan in 2024 exported $111 billion worth of goods the U.S., accounting for 23% of Taiwan’s total exports. A majority of these goods were computers and accessories and semiconductors. The U.S. goods trade deficit with Taiwan was $73.9 billion in 2024, expanding 54.6% from a year earlier, according to Office of the U.S. Trade Represtative (USTR). The trade deficit with U.S. was way above than that of Japan and South Korea, so it’s more difficult for Taiwan to persuade Trump to drop his planned tariffs to a 15% rate. 

Taiwan-based TSMC dominates  the market for manufacturing of the world’s  most advanced chips and counts major major tech giants such as Apple Inc. as clients. The industry generally believes that TSMC has already invested $165 billion in a U.S. facility, and future negotiations will focus on the technological core of the semiconductor and AI industry chains.Washington reportedly stressed that it was TSMC, rather than Taiwan’s authorities, that holds the key for the negotiations.

Trump has been reportedly pressuring TSMC to take over and manage Intel’s plants. The DigiTimes reported late February that the U.S.government has offered TSMC three options. Under the first proposal, that TSMC would build an advanced packaging facility in the US, offering integrated services from wafer manufacturing to back-end processing locally. The second involves a  joint venture led by the U.S. government. It requires TSMC along with several major companies to invest in Intel’s standalone foundry business under a joint venture, and the venture would facilitate a technology transfer from TSMC. The last proposal is to allow Intel to assume future packaging contracts from U.S. customers that TSMC has secured, such as  like Apple Inc., leveraging Intel’s advanced packaging capabilities.

Amid the Trump administration’s drive to reinforce the domestic “Made in America” policy and implement measures to ensure Intel’s survival, TSMC is being cited as virtually the only solution, according to industry sources.

Trump on March 3 announced TSMC will invest $100 billion in boosting U.S. chip manufaturing. The company then confirmed it plans to expand its investment in advanced semiconductor manufacturing in U.S. by additional $100 billion.  That will bring its total investment in the country to $165 billion. TSMC said the expansion includes plans for three new fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities and a major R&D team center. It expected the expanded investment would support 40,000 construction jobs over the next four years and create tens of thousands of high-paying, high-tech jobs in advanced chip manufacturing and R&D.

TSMC has pitched a group of semiconductor companies including Nvidia Corporation, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) and Broadcom Inc. on running Intel’s foundry business through a potential joint venture, Reuters reported on March 12. , citing four sources. It was said TSMC initiated discussions with the later three American companies and the talks are in an early stage. The reported venture will operate Intel’s segment that is responsible for building chips for both the company and third party contractors.

Under TSMC’s proposal, the world’s top semiconductor foundry would be the only operator of Intel’s foundry factories that is based outside U.S. and hold not more than 50% of the potential venture, considering U.S. President Donald Trump has implied discomfort with foreign entities’ ownership of American companies, per the report. If the report is accurate, Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom are likely to be other operators of the potential venture and get stakes in it.